The Cage was a better pilot than WNMHGB

[Christopher]

Oh, what was the second?

The Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth" was the second try at the premise. The first was the original 1966 pilot script for a half-hour series of the same name that would've been unconnected to Star Trek -- although it could've potentially tied in, since it had Gary Seven sent back from 2319 to fight time-traveling, shapeshifting villains seeking to prevent humanity from achieving its future destiny as an interstellar power.

And it might have been a sitcom. I'm not sure. The parts of the pilot script that translated most intact to the Trek episode were the humorous scenes of Roberta encountering Seven and dealing with the high-tech gimmicks in his office, and the supporting characters included a building superintendent who was explicitly likened in the script to I Love Lucy's William Frawley and a suspicious police detective named Lt. Brunner who was set up as a long-suffering foil for Seven, very much like Detective Brennan in My Favorite Martian. But if it was a sitcom, it was a very unfunny one, hence my uncertainty.

 

[BillJ]

My favorite is usually whichever one I’m watching at the time.

 

[trynda1701]

The Star Trek episode "Assignment: Earth" was the second try at the premise. The first was the original 1966 pilot script for a half-hour series of the same name that would've been unconnected to Star Trek -- although it could've potentially tied in, since it had Gary Seven sent back from 2319 to fight time-traveling, shapeshifting villains seeking to prevent humanity from achieving its future destiny as an interstellar power.

I did not know that about the concept. Thank you, I have learned something new today!

As for the original post of the thread, I love both stories. But the important thing is that Star Trek got a second chance to make it onto air!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I think they both show different directions that Trek has continued to take. They're both very good, but one shows the more cerebral side of trek, the other more action oriented. Shatner was a better lead, though in his pilot.

That is one of those myths that needs to be laid to rest; WNMHB is largely two character studies: one of a once affable man / best friend losing his soul (ironically enough) and identity to possession of/through limitless power. The other focused on the leader who is just as human, yet he alone had to fight his own values/loyalties in carrying the weight of deciding the life or death of his friend. The only real "action" is the fight in the climax, which perfectly served the story. This was not ID4 or The Terminator franchise. WNMHGB dealt with far weightier issues of life, death, blasphemous level of corruption--the essence of why humans exist at all as opposed to "The Cage", where in the grand scheme of things, Pike just chooses not to give in to a life of living out his fantasies/desires as part of the reproduction interests / benefit of his captors. A serviceable story, but not the most thought-provoking of plots, or one truly challenging to audience and lead characters of the larger ideas.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Yeah, and there are no more 90-minute shows, and made-for-TV movies don't exist anymore except on a few cable channels like Lifetime. There don't seem to be miniseries anymore either. Only "reality" and competition shows seem to get slots longer than an hour these days. It's weird how much more rigid it's gotten.

It seems weird, but I think it was caused by the expansion of mass communications technology. The proliferation of media outlets (cable and now streaming services) has eaten the broadcast networks' lunches, leaving them a much narrower range of program formats that can still be financially competitive.

 

[Harvey]

Yeah, and there are no more 90-minute shows, and made-for-TV movies don't exist anymore except on a few cable channels like Lifetime. There don't seem to be miniseries anymore either. Only "reality" and competition shows seem to get slots longer than an hour these days. It's weird how much more rigid it's gotten.

Netflix has started experimenting with what they're calling "short form content" with shows like Special and Bonding (which run about 15 minutes per episode). And there's a whole streaming network called Quibi in the works dedicated to shows with episodes of this length.

And if you want TV movies, HBO is still making them, as are the streaming platforms.

But U.S. network TV is still pretty rigid, I'll grant you that.

 

[Christopher]

A lot of kids' shows on cable in recent years, like Teen Titans Go! and Justice League Action on Cartoon Network, have 11- minute episodes that can be run in 15-minute schedule blocks or paired off in a half-hour block.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ Also Robot Chicken.

 

[Maurice]

^ Also Robot Chicken.

Wonder who makes that? (Glances at avatar)

 

[BK613]

This is why we need telepathy.

Oh hell no! We do not. For no other reason than you might find yourself in the mind of The Donald.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Oh hell no! We do not.

I don't even want my wife to know what's going on in there....

 

[Greg Cox]

It's probably because I was a certain age when the first Kolchak film came out, but I'll still say you can make a case that THE NIGHT STALKER could be the greatest TV-movie ever made, excluding minseries. It's got a humorous JAWS vibe to it, even though it was made first. Kolchak and Dreyfuss's Hooper give me similar reactions.

You weren't alone. At the time, it was the top-rated TV-movie in history.

(Scripted by Richard Matheson.)

 

[pfontaine2]

Valiant. And, yes, that's a nice moment.

Yes...Valient! (Hangs head in shame...)

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

You weren't alone. At the time, it was the top-rated TV-movie in history.

(Scripted by Richard Matheson.)

..and still one of the best vampire stories ever put before a camera.

 

[plynch]

I hadn't realized this thread had continued for so long -- not "watching it", which I shall do now -- but any thread that makes me remember Adam 12 is a GOOD thread.

also . . . Emergency!

 

[The Old Mixer]

but any thread that makes me remember Adam 12 is a GOOD thread.

You might wanna pop by here once a week...50th anniversary Season 2 reviews to commence next week-ish with the third episode. (I had a recording mishap with the first two.)

 

[plynch]

Wow, thanks.

 

[Search4]

Well let’s put it this way. If Where No Man had been shot first would we have seen a second pilot?

No. It’s the better pilot.

 

[Maurice]

Well let’s put it this way. If Where No Man had been shot first would we have seen a second pilot?

No. It’s the better pilot.

If they'd shot it with The Cage cast I daresay we still would've seen a different cast when it got picked up, beyond Hunter and Nimoy.

 

[Christopher]

Well let’s put it this way. If Where No Man had been shot first would we have seen a second pilot?

Quite possibly we would have. As I mentioned before, Desilu's first priority was to prove they were capable of producing a series as ambitious as Star Trek at a time when their sole production was The Lucy Show. So they had to pull out all the stops on their first pilot and do a feature-quality production. If they'd done WNM first, then they would've gone for a more elaborate production to achieve that goal, and thus it probably would've had the same problem that it didn't represent a typical episode budget and thus didn't let NBC estimate how much a season would cost. Also, as Maurice said, NBC felt the original cast didn't really work, and didn't deliver the diversity Roddenberry had promised. The first pilot would probably have had the same cast and budget issue regardless of which story they'd used, so a second pilot would still have been necessary.